Ironskin by Tina Connolly

Overall Rating: 2 stars

Date Finished: January 29, 2017

I will start by saying that it took me a while to finish this book. The truth is that I was rather bored and there were other books that arrived that interested me more so this kept getting pushed to the side burner. Of course, the breaks in between reading may have affected how I felt about the book, but I never really felt any drive to keep reading either.

Unfortunately, the problems with this book begin with the premise itself. See, this book is premised as a retelling of Jane Eyre but in a world full of the Fae. So, you start off the book with very high expectations which are in all honesty pretty much impossible to meet because in all honesty we all know that it can't ever really compare to Jane Eyre. So the book set itself up but even alluding to it being a Jane Eyre retelling.

The second big thing is the romance. Now, there characters weren't all that great or really hashed out much, but that is unfortunately common in YA novels. The real issue is that the romance was based on absolutely nothing. Jane started falling in love with Edward based on almost no interaction. She would only see him for 5 minutes a week and sometimes less. And  yet, she just couldn't resist him and these deep feeling were developing just based on her obsessing over him? Not quite enough to make for an enjoyable romance.

And there is the main character herself. She was such a downer. Yes, she was injured. Yes, she had reasons to be bitter. But she was obsessed. She spent all of her time moping or obsessing about all the things she didn't have and felt she deserved. And all of this led her ridiculous, vain decision that could have ended everything. 

Towards the end you begin to see a difference in Jane as she grows and yet she is offered the chance to have a mask placed, on that would forever cover her deformity and its ill effects on other people. The catch is that the mask if made from fae mask which means that anyone with a mask can have their body taken over by the fae. Not only has the Queen already been trying to take her over but now she has personally witnessed people being taken over, and yet, despite all the risks, she decides to get a mask but the only thing she cares about is being pretty and special. And of course she is devastated when surprise, surprise it all backfires.

But even in the end she gets a  new mask and the overall message of the whole book is that looks is all that matters and the guy could never love her is she didn't have a normal face again. And of course, its okay to put your life, the life of everyone you care about, and the safety of your whole country in jeopardy just so she an be pretty. 

City of Eternal Night (Crescent City #2) by Kristen Painter

Overall Rating: 3 stars

Date Finished: October 6, 2016

So, I came into this book already slightly disappointed from the first book. Now, I liked the characters for the most part and the plot was interesting but I felt like the action was often brushed over and the ending was very anticlimactic. As such, I came in really hoping for a big, exciting finish in this book to make for the last one.

Unfortunately, I ended up having the same problem with this book as I did with the last one. The book builds and builds and then just kind of flops at the end. I like the characters, I like the world building and I even like most of the plot but nothing is ever resolved in a satisfying way. All conflicts are short and for the most part conflict is avoided. And the most frustrating thing is that this had a lot of potential to have a killer ending. The end brings this showdown between the evil father and not just Harlow, but her long dead sister, the first born that was prophesied to kill him. And as we approached the showdown I was really hoping for something big, and yet it was all over in like 2 seconds. She walks in, kills her father and then boom, it’s over.

And Harlow was still a bit frustrating in this book. Even after everything that happened she is still pushing Augustine away and then there is this random love triangle for all of one chapter. And when Harlow finally puts on her big girl pants and chooses Augustine, I really thought things were finally going to pick up for them, and yet it doesn’t. And while Harlow is finally coming to terms with who and what she is, and is finally trying to control her powers, she makes stupid, naïve mistakes. Like making a deal with the big, evil tree that only brings sorrow, in order to try to resurrect her sister. A sister she can’t bear to live without after just learning about her two seconds ago. And when said sister appears and seems more than a little unstable and a bit psychotic, she just ignores it because hey, it’s my sister. And when said psychotic sister asks to share her body, she doesn’t even hesitate. There’s no “hey, she might be psychotic and try to take over my body(duh)”, she just says sure sister go ahead. And then is soo surprised when said psychotic sister does in fact take over her body.

 And the storyline with Giselle is getting old. Not that it's not important, I mean she is involved in a lot of it, but rather than the intrigue of the previous book, it was mostly talking and relationships and I was ready to move on from that storyline. And while I could understand the occasional check in with that story, it was almost every other chapter and I was really bored with it.  I also felt like Giselle’s sister was a very one dimensional character. She just agrees with everything and goes along with everything. I kept waiting for her to be secretly planning something and to turn out to truly be sadistic because I felt like that would have at least made her feel more like a real person.

Overall, I will say that I still enjoyed the characters and plotline enough to want to read the next book, but I’ve been pretty disappointed overall with the series. 

Witchling (Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon #1) by Yasmine Galenorn

Overall Rating: 1 star

Date Finished: October 5, 2016

This book was a disappointment. I picked it up because it was on my Top 25 list of books that take place in Wa and I was curious. The idea could have been good but the execution just wasn't there. 

One of my biggest complaints is that the world building was sporadic and unclear. I mean, just the premise itself, three sisters with three very different powers. They describe weres as a separate race from the sidhe and yet their father is sidhe and her sister is a were. So is it another race or a manifestation of sidhe power, because you can't have it both ways. They also mention witches as being different from sidhe and one character's powers is being a witch. And while the third is now a vampire, the only comment on her beforehand is that her power was climbing walls. So just in that back story alone there's a lot of contradiction. All the characters are pretty stereotypical and uninteresting. 

And all the romance is lame. The main love interests in an arrogant, self-obsessed jerk and she sleeps with him despite the fact that she doesn't even like him. And while she does actually like the other guy, she still maintains an ongoing relationship with both. And both guys spend most of the book talking about how good they are in bed. It was just all so overdone and unrealistic. All the conversations seemed forced and none of it seemed like real people interacting but just shells of a character.

I also hated all the assumptions and random conclusions. They get a vague description from a drunk guy in the alley and yet she knows who he is immediately. Of course, it must be him! Then they go to Tom's and come across a female fey and she all of the sudden knows who it is, this must be Wisteria who was mentioned in one sentence in a diary even though I have no idea what she looks like but I just know it's her. And the whole book goes like that, from random conclusion to random conclusion with no leg work, no real investigation and not much of a fight anywhere. Camille cares more about her designer clothes and having sex and was just not a likable character.

Unfortunately, this was a big miss for me.

Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J. Maas

Overall Rating: 4 stars

Date Finished: October 2, 2016

Yes, Yes, Yes! I will say that I have been very reluctant to start this book. With so much having been resolved in the last book and the description I was just so worried that this book was going to become bogged down in negotiating and talking and overall just be fairly boring. And at the beginning when they are setting up the meeting with the leaders that's what it really seemed like I was getting. There's power struggles, blah blah blah, and I was preparing myself for boring court intrigue. And then being true to herself Aelin doesn't just sit still, she takes off and starts wreaking havoc. And boy was that fun to read.

So, the gist of the story is that when Aelin returns to claim her throne, her country refuses her. And boy was that frustrating. After everything she’s done to get to this point, to have her own countrymen turn her away was a huge blow. And they hint that the only way she could ever be useful to her country is through political marriage. (GRR!!!!) I will admit that I really wanted to Aelin to just tear them a new one then and there, but I also knew that there was no way she could do that and still make it work.

So now, Aelin has to go and get some allies, which is starting to look pretty impossible.

There are a lot of different POV’s throughout the book and for the most part it was enjoyable to see the different perspectives and how it all starts to come together. I will admit that at the beginning some one of the perspectives seemed quite boring and irrelevant but in the end it all came together to give the book more depth.

And more than anything I have to say that I enjoyed the fact the Aelin was her same old arrogant, chaotic queen-self. She wrought havoc and spilt blood and fought tooth and nail for her allies. And as we near the end of the book it just appears impossible that things will work out.

And while I don’t want to give too much away, let me just say, THAT ENDING!!!

At the end you just keep waiting for someone to say, just kidding, and yet, despite all of the crazy twists and turns, Aelin planned for all of it and everyone is left reeling by her pure awesomeness with everything she managed to bring together in the end. It is definitely not the end, there is still a lot to be done, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised that this series keeps living up to my expectations.

On a side note, I will say that there were some graphic sex scenes that were pretty unnecessary. People are hooking up and that's fine, it's part of the plot and I liked most of the pairing, but we went from some spattered heavy kissing or just sex references to all of the sudden everyone having graphic sex. Plot romances all you want but there's no need for it to become graphic now, after everything. It just kind of felt like the author experimented with this in her other series and now feels like she has to throw it in everywhere. I'm more interested in the plot than details. So can we please skip some of that next time?

Greta and the Goblin King (Mylena Chronicles #1) by Chloe Jacobs

Overall Rating: 3 Stars

Date Finished: September, 21, 2016

This is a loose retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Greta (aka Gretel) and her younger brother (not named hansel by the way) are lured into a witches trap by the smell of gingerbread. But instead of teaming together to throw the witch into the fire, Greta saves her brother from the fire only to fall in herself. The fire turns out to be a portal into another world called Mylena.

There were a couple frustrations that I had. The first being that it feels like you start out the book having missed a couple chapters. Greta's angsty relationship with the dark Goblin king, Isaac, is already in full swing. While the author summarizes what happened in the past two weeks it wasn't enough. I wanted to read that first meeting in the bar, that first dream and everything after, not just get random hints here and there. Greta's hot and cold act with Isaac got real old. I get that this is all part of a typical YA relationship but it kept going throughout almost the entire book.

And despite that I still kind of like Greta as a character and then the author goes and throws in a completely unnecessary love triangle.

Wyatt is the human love interest and was a great character until they threw in the love interest. He was great with the younger boys and a great leader and then the supposed romance changes it. To me, that ruined all of it. He somehow fell in love with her in two days, so much in love that he would give anything for her and can't stop thinking about her. And that of course has nothing to do with the fact that Greta is the first girl he's seen in years. And now that is going to complicate the next book because Greta's rejection will cause a wedge and blah, blah, and I'm already seeing the next book going downhill.

And then when things start to get tough, Greta keeps almost dying. Now, to be fair, she almost died at the beginning of the book as well, which puts in to question how good she really is. And I also understand that she is just a human against supernatural creatures and she is trying to protect this group of kids, but she keeps failing. Over and over. I mean, she is saved by little kids who don’t even know who to fight. I could get having a couple hard fights where she gets badly injured but I felt like she was getting badly injured every time she tried to fight, and that just made it harder to see her as the tough as nails hunter she is supposed to be.

It wasn't a bad read but not very original and I'm a bit doubtful about the rest of the series.

House of the Rising Sun (Crescent City #1) by Kristen Painter

Overall Rating: 3 Stars

Date Finished: September 16, 2016

This book left me a bit torn. There were things that I liked and things that I didn’t like, which made it very hard to rate.

Based on the blurb you expect a book all about Augustine, but there are actually two main characters and alternating POV’s between the two of them. The second character is Olivia’s daughter, Harlow. And this is where things get complicated.

See, Harlow is pretty hard to like in the beginning. She’s closed off, selfish, and afraid of just about everything except for computers and online gaming. She is even afraid of her own Fae heritage and closes herself and pretends to be human. The good thing is that it gets better. Harlow grows throughout the book and is more enjoyable towards the end of the book, but the first part of this book it’s still hard to deal with her. And while the character POV gives you some understanding as to why she acts the way she does she just keeps going back to that “void” in her life all because she doesn’t know her Dad is. I understand the frustration, but you don’t just cut yourself off from the world because you don’t know who your dad is.

On the other hand, Augustine was a very likable character. Just enough rogue and darkness to be interesting and his interactions with Harlow are quite enjoyable.

There is some action and intrigue and mystery and it all seems to be building up to something big, and that is where I got really disappointed. See, there is this big fight going on with the vampires and yet every fight feels summarized. There’s no suspense, no tense moments, and it was all usually over in one page or less. And so I kept thinking, well, she’s building up to the big fight at the end.

And then the vampire boss kidnaps Harlow, and when Augustine comes home the fight is literally over in 1 minute or less. So I think, now it’s all going to come to a head, or some new information will be revealed or there will be some sort of cliffhanger, and yet, it just ends. In fact, I found myself paging back and forth and the end of the book wondering if my copy was somehow missing the last chapter!

The beginning was slow, the middle got better, and there was lots of buildup and yet that was the worst ending ever. All the exciting parts of the book felt brushed over and not well developed and I found that very unsatisfying, and anticlimactic.

And yet, despite all of my frustrations, by the end I really liked the characters. That alone will probably be enough for me to read the next book but I really hope things pick up because this was frustrating.

And I should note that I did not read the House of Comarre series (I guess this is a spinoff of that series).